Hello this is my first "real" post on the forums and I'm just looking for a bit of advice.

I have lost a little over 20 lbs in the last two months doing a weird version of Atkins/low carb. I have been following the 20 carb/day limit but have been eating quite a bit more cheese and sugar than is allowed for the Induction phase.

So far, so good... the weight loss speaks for itself. I never experienced a huge surge of weight loss though - I know some Atkins followers have lost 15 lbs in the two weeks. I average about 2 lbs per week, some weeks more than others.

I have been stuck between 161 and 159 for a week now (obviously not long enough to be a plateau) and I am wondering if I should just start a truly CLEAN induction this weekend or continue with the way I have been going?

Thanks for any information you can provide.

If you already have carbs at 20g a day I suspect you won't get a huge change from going to the Atkins induction foods, but then I'm more of a self-styled diet person like you vs someone who follows diets very closely (like you I keep carbs low but don't follow anyone's food lists).

I do wonder how you eat sugar and keep to the 20 g of carbs - can you explain what sugar you are consuming & in what amounts?

Finally, your weight loss is pretty incredible - 20 pounds in 2 months is pretty much impossible to improve upon and you're right, one week DOES NOT count as a plateau. Not everyone gets the big initial drop on Atkins induction by the way - it really depends on how you were eating before starting and how your body works. I was already dieting for several weeks when I switched to low carb and I had a loss when i switched but nothing dramatic. Then several weeks of plateau before I started losing again, and now I lose one pound a week pretty steadily.

I can tell you're in a hurry to lose the weight but I suggest you relax and just go with what you're already doing, because it's obviously working. Remember, it's a lifestyle you'll need to stick to, and since you've lost pretty consistently it's hard to say that you need to change anything. Not losing one week can be from any number of factors (for me especially time of month, for example) and nothing to worry over.

good luck!

Thank you for the input!

The sugar I am consuming is in the form of Splenda (2 packets, and not daily) and in what I thought was SF Jello (it wasn't, darn aspartame). And I made "cheesecake" from one of Linda's recipes (2 oz of cream cheese per piece and Splenda) and was eating more cheese on top of that. I recently bought liquid Smokey Mountain sweetner, which supposedly has 0 carbs but I count each Tbsp as 1.

Actually, right after I posted... I dropped another 2 lbs. I think I wasn't eating ENOUGH calories. I was averaging around 850-1050, apparently not enough. I upped it to between 1200-1300 and that seems to have done the trick.

Yes, I'm finding myself significantly undereating these past few weeks & while so far the scale isn't a problem, I don't think it's healthy so I'm trying to bump that up too.

Sounds like you have a good approach, but if you do really stall you also know some things you can tweak. For me at least, knowing what I'll do when I stall helps keep me sane & relaxed about the scale. The plans are there, ready, able to help when needed.

My weight keeps fluctuating... which is very irritating. I went from 156 to 159 (almost 160) and am now back to 158. I am not sure what to do. I am trying to be patient.

I am still conflicted as to whether or not to start a clean induction, I wonder if it would help stabilize things a little bit.

Oh, btw Sarah, I peeked at your blog and I MUST compliment you on your fabulous bathroom with the polka dots. Tres chic.

Thanks! It was a lot of work but I'm really pleased with it! That tiny bathroom was really yucky before.

When you say your weight is fluctuating is that daily or weekly? I get on the scale daily first thing in the morning but only write it down on Mondays. During the week my weight goes up and down by 2 pounds all the time. That is NORMAL based on sodium, exercise, caffeine, what you ate, when you ate it, etc. Generally there is a trend you can see but it's not a direct correlation to what I ate that day or even the day before. For no apparent reason the scale will jump up (and down). I don't freak out about it - the longer term trend (weekly) is clearly going down (although I admit when the Monday number is higher than it was on Sunday I will sometimes use the Tuesday number instead).

And hormones are a big factor too -- just before my period I would gain 3-6 pounds, that wouldn't go away until about 4-6 days into my next cycle.

My recommendation is to keep the weight fluctuations in perspective - if they are weekly numbers (not daily as I suspect) then you may benefit from some stall-busting program, but if those are just daily fluctuations you probably should just relax a bit (I know, easier said than done!)

Either way it sounds like the idea of trying a clean induction is really tugging at you, so it may be a good idea -- will at least give you some peace of mind knowing you tried it.